As I sit in my cozy living room, I am conscious that today is Good Friday and that on Sunday the most sacred holy day on the Christian calendar will be celebrated.  The story of the passion, suffering, and resurrection of the Christ actually began last Sunday when we told the story of His arrival to Jerusalem.

Yesterday, during commemorations of the last supper, Christians around the world reenacted the story about how Jesus washed his disciples’ feet.  After returning from church last night, a cousin posted the following in Facebook:

Tonight at church we sang “As I Have Done For You.”  The song was sung during the Washing of the Feet and I was so moved by the refrain that I could only listen to the choir sing it.

“I, your Lord and Master, now become your servant. I who made the moon and stars will kneel to wash your feet. This is my commandment: to love as I have loved you. Kneel to wash each others’ feet as I have done for you.”

The direction to love as I have loved is found throughout scripture.  But it is the rich story of Jesus becoming the servant to his disciplines and then consenting to be crucified that makes us truly appreciate the miracle of God’s love.

While my cousin was being moved by the stories of Christ’s love, a friend of mine who lives very close to her has been telling the story of Passover; the story of the great Exodus when G-d lead his chosen people from the slavery they experienced in the land of Egypt.  Like Jesus did during the last supper, my friend will celebrate the Sedar meal and will tell the story of G-d working in the lives of His people.  Retelling the story allows us to appreciate the significance of how much G-d cares for those He has chosen.

In my own tradition, there are moving stories that help us better understand the power of the Buddha Dhamma.  We have the story of Angulimala who made a necklace of the fingers of those individuals he murdered.  Through story we learn that Angulimala was able to redeem himself and became an Arahant.  The story of Andulimala gives us hope that even with our imperfections, reaching Nibbana is a realistic possibility.

As I sit in my cozy living room reflecting on the power of story, I realize that one of the difficulties we have as teachers is that we cannot tell our most powerful stories.  We are forced to make general statements about our ability to transform students without being able to tell the specific stories of lives transformed. In effect, we are in the position of a Jew who wanted to explain G-d’s love while being forbidden to tell the story of the Passover or a Christian who was unable to cite the remarkable story of the Master becoming the Servant and then giving His life to save those He loved.  We are left in the position of a Buddhist who must rely on theoretical discourses such as the Satipatthana Sutta which tells us how to find mindfulness without the story of Angulimala who actually found enlightenment.

Even though we cannot ethically publish details of the most transformative stories we encounter, educators are people of faith who know the lived reality of the transformations that happen within our students.  Although we cannot tell our stories fully, we can tell still tell them the best ways we know how.

I also know that there are students in our classrooms who will step into the role of St. Matthew, the survivors of the Exodus, or Ananda who attended Gautama Buddha; students who will remember and tell of how they were transformed in quality classrooms.  But, more importantly, I realize that we educations neither have to hide our light under a basket nor do we need to become defensive in the face of constant criticism.  Even if the greater world does not appreciate it, we realize that we do make a difference in the lives of our students.

More importantly, I know that our students realize the transformation.  For today, as I sit in my cozy living room, that is enough.